The Trudginger I Go, the Receedinger the Mountain

I got a free band saw, but I think I have to modify it extensively to cut this wood-composite laminate I've created.  This is a good time to reflect on the meaning of Building Things Backwards, and the process of acquiring "knowledge".  Here I am, just trying to build a guitar.  Yes, I got tricky with materials, but it doesn't affect the overall process.  My process so far:

1. I got involved with composites
     A.  I built a heat box to cure composites
           i)  I had to struggle with foam and reflective bubble wrap
           ii) I had to build a heater out of lights
           iii) I had to test it for temperature range and stability
     B.  I layered the composite
           i) I attempted to use weights to compress the stack slightly
                 a) I discovered the need for a clamping jig
           ii) I discovered the practical need for a temperature controller
2.  I had to cut this laminate
     A. I tried a table saw with a plywood blade
     B. I tried a router
     C. I tried a hacksaw
     D. I tried a band saw
          i) I tried a cheap, stock wood-cutting blade
          ii) I will try a bi-metal metal-cutting blade
          iii) I will try to slow down the band saw speed so as not to overheat the plastic in the laminate
               a) I will explore gearing down with pulleys
                     1. I will diagram the entire machine
                     2. I will discover what arrangement of pulleys will fit in the machine
                     3. I will learn the mathematics of pulleys
                          I) I will create more metal framing to support the new pulleys and jackshaft
                               i) I will explore making the pulley tension adjustable so the machine isn't intractable
                               ii) I will explore making the machine operate in both new and old configurations
               b) I will explore using a DC treadmill motor
                     1. I will search the internet
                     2. I will search tag sales
                          I) I will learn to identify motor size by treadmill model
                          II) I will have to bring home a treadmill
                          III) I will have to dismantle a treadmill, preserving the parts I need

Maybe I'm not saying this well, or maybe I'm saying something too pointlessly obvious.  My point, however, is that every time I hit a wall I have to dig backward in a tangentially-related discipline. Each time I do, I am going back in time to follow the tracks of other people who visualized these problems very clearly decades and centuries before I was born.  "Band saw" to me means more than just a free saw that I have to recondition and tune up:  it now means blueprints and engineering and pulley ratios and keyed shafts and pillow blocks and jackshafts.  "Band saw", on a bad day when you have to cut something very strange, could be construed to mean, "All of engineering and physics."

I am constantly amazed by this process of blockage, regression, elaboration and breakthrough.  I don't know if I'm getting closer to building a guitar, or farther. There is a part of me that is always discouraged at this process; that is also the part of me that would have settled for rediscovering fire after each lightning strike, rather than learning how create fire.

I am a monkey.